ABSTRACT
Italian dramatic tenor, born in Florence. He taught himself by listening to operatic records, and in 1935 won a vocal contest in Rome. His debut was as Pinkerton in Milan in 1941; then he served in the Italian army to the end of World War II. After the war he appeared in many world opera houses, and made his Metropolitan Opera debut as Des Grieux in Manon Lescaut on 27 Nov 1950 and stayed with the company to 1959, singing 102 performances. Otello was his greatest role; he made a complete recording of the opera under Herbert Von Karajan for Decca. He also starred in a dozen other LP recordings of complete operas. Del Monaco died in Mestre, near Venice.
